The Orange (7-0) needed to rebound from 15-point first-half
deficits in recent victories over Northeastern and Canisius.
However, their defense made things miserable for the Crusaders
(5-1) from the opening tip.

Holy Cross missed seven of its first eight shots and scored just
two points in the first 9:20 of the contest. The Crusaders
committed 14 turnovers and did not take a foul shot in the first
half.

"I thought in the first half, we played the best defense we've
played all year," Boeheim said. "We started to play the same
way in the second half until they started blowing the whistles.
Then the whole game changed."

"We've been stressing defense a lot in practice lately," Nichols
said. "We tried to get in the groove early."

Reaching the 20-point plateau for the third straight game,
Nichols made three 3-pointers, Harris scored five points and
Wright added four to give Syracuse a 23-7 lead with 7:20 left
before halftime.

"My teammates did a great job of finding me and I knocked them
down," Nichols said.

"Demetris was tremendous," Boeheim said. "He made good
decisions and played great defense."

The Orange extended their lead to 51-36 midway through the
second half when Eric Devendorf connected with Wright for an
alley-oop dunk, which brought the home fans to their feet.

Looking to win its first six games for the first time since
1988-1989, Holy Cross (5-1) began to gradually chip away at the
lead and make Syracuse nervous.

Keith Simmons scored 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers,
and Colin Cunningham went 5-of-5 from the foul line down the
stretch to bring the Crusaders within 68-64 with 17 seconds
remaining.

"I thought we ran out of energy a little bit in the second
half," Boeheim said. "We were just a step slow. ... Mentally,
this was a good experience for us. We made plays we had to
make."

Syracuse sealed its fifth consecutive victory over Holy Cross
after Devendorf and Nichols combined to hit 4-of-4 free throws
in the waning seconds. The teams had not met since the Orange
posted a 77-57 triumph in the 1981 NIT.